Bugs On the Trail & How to Deal with Them

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Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,Thru-Hike,AT Thru-Hike,Backpacking,Hiking,Adventure,Camping,Hiker Trash,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,PCT Thru-Hike,CDT,AZT,Long Distance Hiking,Bugs on the trail

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin here today to talk about bugs on the trail and how to deal with them

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okay so lately while I've been filming my videos out here on the trail I've been dealing with bugs like crazy then watching on Q&A and stuff you'll be seeing me fighting bugs they have been driving me nuts and it's because it's getting warmer so that got me thinking about all the bugs that I encountered while hiking the Appalachian Trail I figured it would be a great opportunity to finally make a video talking about the different types of annoying bugs out there and how to deal with them okay so obviously there's tons of different bugs out on the 80 so today I just want to talk about the big three that are going to annoy the hell out of you and make your thru-hike pretty interesting number one which i think is one of the worst ones is mosquitoes man or the mosquitoes bad out on the 80 especially if the winter had a big snow year now there's mosquitoes pretty much all the way up and down the trail from Georgia to Maine or they really start getting bad is right around Pennsylvania and they usually follow you all the way from Pennsylvania all the way to Katahdin so in 2015 on the trail the mosquitoes were so bad in Massachusetts you could see these giant thick black clouds as you were hiking down the trail like hundreds of these things just swarming and you knew that you had like a run through the clouds so they are really bad out on the 80 just know that you're pretty much not going to avoid them they are going to get you number two is one that has become a huge enemy to most through hikers and especially to me and that is ticks ticks are also really really bad out on the 80 and whenever you're hiking 2,000 miles through a super deep forest canopy they're going to drop out of trees they're going to rub off on grass ticks are out there people and especially in New England so Connecticut is actually where Lyme disease was first founded and they are really bad around that area now in 2015 I got bit by a tick and contracted Aliki osis which is a form of Lyme disease which is one of the contributing factors and why we got off of the trail in 15 number three are the black flies now typically you don't have to worry about the black flies until you're getting into Vermont now this is if you're going nobo if you're going southbound obviously you're going to have to deal with them from the beginning pretty much all the way until you get to Massachusetts so black flies are these little bitty annoying bastards that bite the hell Eddie sometimes they bite you so hard that they draw blood so it's not necessarily that they're annoying but they hurt now some years are worse than others

last year in 2016 when snuggles and I were going through that section of the trail they weren't that bad but we still got a lot of bites and I drew a lot of blood all right so now we know the three big annoying insects out on the trail so how do we deal with them the first thing that you can do to ensure that you get pretty good bug repellent before you hit the trail is treat your gear with permethrin now permethrin is a spray that you can treat your clothes your tent your shoes all of your gear with before you hit the trail and it helps repel insects not only does permethrin repel insects but it supposedly also kills mosquitoes and ticks so pretty much what you do is you go get a big bottle of this stuff and you just treat all of your gear you spray it all down you let it dry and it's supposed to last either six weeks or six washings so whether you're washing your clothes or rain is completely drenching your tent it lasts quite a while now it doesn't have any smell it doesn't really leave a residue but first hand I can tell you it really really helps and typically what we would do is we would treat our gear before we hit the trail and then about six weeks later we would find super Mathurin and then whenever we were having a zero-day where we were staying in a hotel or a hostel we would treat all of our clothes and our gear again the main thing that I treat is in 2016 out on the 80 were my gaiters and my shoes especially because I got bit by a tick in 2015 and contracted a leaky osis so I was super worried about ticks again especially since we were going deeper and deeper into New England I wanted to make sure all of my stuff was treated so get some permethrin the second thing that you can do to help fight against the insects out on the trail is obviously bug spray now this one should be a duh and most people carry some form of bug spray with them now there's tons of different types of bug spray out on the market like repel off are those big huge cans what snuggles and I used was Ben's 100% DEET now there is a ton of controversy on DEET and if it's super dangerous for you if you should use it if it's like poison and I don't typically like putting chemicals on my skin however when you're getting eaten alive every single day by mosquitoes you'll pretty much do anything that you have to do just to get a little bit of relief so what I typically ever put DEET on my skin if I'm going out for like a day hike or something no but when I'm hiking all day every day for months at a time and I'm getting eaten alive by mosquitoes you bet your ass I'm going to use it now one thing to note about DEET especially a hundred percent DEET because it is such a strong chemical keep it away from your clothes and gear it has said to actually melt gear no plastics and nylons and stuff so it's probably not the best thing for your skin but it sure does help and if you're not into a harsh chemical like DEET there are tons of natural bug sprays that are on the market that are said to work pretty well I've never used any of the natural stuff but I hear a lot of people that swear by it on the trail but for me bug spray is definitely one that I couldn't do a hike on the 80 without I really hate the stuff but what works works alright so the third thing that you can do to fight against bugs are head nets and anti bug clothing yes head nets like the ones that they carry in the army the ones that you see at army surplus stores head nets are actually pretty effective they're super goofy looking they're super uncomfortable they're even hot when it's crazy humid outside but it gives you a little bit of relief when insects are eating out your eyeballs when you're trying to hike now snuggling I didn't have one of these when we first hit the trail in 2015 but when we got into Pennsylvania and the bugs started getting really bad we picked one up at a store and used it a lot again crazy uncomfortable it sucks to wear on your head I even got like a really stupid camo one but man did it help from doing this all the time now another thing that you can check out to repel bugs are anti bug clothing so it's clothing that is treated with things like permethrin and other chemicals it helps repel bugs I personally never used any of it but I know there's a ton of it on the market Columbia makes some North Face Patagonia and then ex-officio also makes a ton of it they make a whole line of jackets and pants and shirts called bugs away and again I've never personally used it but there's another through hiker here on YouTube that just got done with his 2017 northbound through hike this swears by the bugs away jacket his name is early riser and if you're not familiar with him you should definitely go check out his videos especially those last 200 miles all the way to Katahdin where he swears by the jacket that he was wearing and said it really helped with mosquitoes and black flies all right guys so what are some experiences that you've had with bugs out on the trail how did you repel them and rectify their insane annoyance leave me something in the comments section below and let me know your thoughts if you haven't had a chance yet go over and check me out on Instagram I'm posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that snuggles and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures of some past hikes if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching

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